U.S. Veteran's Next Tour of Duty: Eating and Blogging his Way Through... -- NEW YORK, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

U.S. Veteran's Next Tour of Duty: Eating and Blogging his Way Through Chile

NEW YORK, March 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- When Brian Mellott was serving his country in Iraq under Operation Iraqi Freedom, he could never have imagined his next tour of duty would be a culinary tour. On March 1, Foods from Chile announced that he had won the Next Top Blogger contest. The Chilean food association and contest judges (from national outlets, such as Esquire) announced that his submissions earned him the coveted title and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chile. The Cookin' Dad, as he is known in his site, SimplyBudgeted.com, is thrilled. He ships out on April 6th.

Brian will also be in good company. Eating and writing alongside him will be 10 notable journalists and bloggers who write for, and have appeared in, publications such as A Life Worth Eating, Ulterior Epicure, NY Magazine Grubstreet, Apron Anxiety, RachaelRay.com, LatinKitchen.com, mamiverse.com, The Chew, Culinary Epicenter, Huffington Post, Chef, taleof2chefs.com, and TV stations WGN, ABC News, FOX and WCIU.

"My time in Iraq really made me appreciate what life has to offer," said Brian. "The birth of my children made me hopeful for what their lives have to offer. I realized that I needed for them to grow up appreciating good food and knowing where their food comes from."

"While visiting Chilean orchards, olive groves, farms and fisheries, Brian will tweet and send photos in real time to Foods From Chile's live photostream. The food is farm-to-table and available all over the world, so we decided the content from the culinary tour should be fresh and immediate as well," said Agathe Blanchon-Ehrsam, Executive Director of Vivaldi Fifth Season, the agency of record for Foods From Chile, which promotes 22 Chilean food categories, from fruits to nuts to seafood to wine.

Back home, readers and fans of FoodsFromChile.org and Brian's social media channels (@thiscookindad and @simplybudgeted) may feel like they, too, are on the tour. An itinerary of the journey will be posted at FoodsFromChile.org and followers can tweet @thiscookindad with hashtag #FoodsFromChile to ask Brian questions, such as, "Please snap a pic of you with a fresh Chilean salmon – and make a fishy face with it."

About Vivaldi Fifth Season Fifth Season is the digital, design and technology agency of Vivaldi Partners Group (http://www.vivaldipartners.com/). The agency produces innovative, engaging branded experiences that allow businesses to connect with their audiences and create entire new business models based on the strength of these new relationships.